Chemicals can be identified based on their characteristic properties. This is an updated version of my flame tests demo. I got the idea for this demo strangely enough from the AMC television show Breaking Bad. The main character in the show is a chemistry teacher, played by the terrific Bryan Cranston, (he also played Buzz...

So here is a simple project to groom your child into the geek parent you are. Over at Hacked Gadgets Alan pointed out a “how-to” on creating your own USB charger from Lego’s.

What could be better than working with USB, robots, legos and our imagination? Our beloved memories of childhood play with Legos has now turned into adult fun with the new robotic line of Mindstroms.

The Mindstroms from Lego is based off their NXT Technology whereby a main NXT brain unit controls 5 different robotic functions for you to let the imagination run free. Build anything you want with the legos, intuitive robotic software or get extreme with Lego’s open source developers kit. 

I found a terrific website called the Periodic Table of Videos. Created by the University of Nottingham (yes that fabled town) chemists, the site has videos on 94 of the elements found in the periodic table. They try to demonstrate some of the properties characteristic of each element. Each video is on Youtube, which is unfortunate because many...

DNA extraction in the life science classroom usually involves isolating DNA from onions, strawberries, wheat germ, sweetbreads, etc. That tends to be kind of boring. More interesting to teachers and students is isolating DNA in humans. There are kits out there

I just downloaded, installed and played with Molecular Workbench. It is simulation and modeling software that students and teachers can use to understand what happens in various chemical phenomena. I could see using this on the computer and showing it on the LCD projector to students. At the middle school level you can use to to show phase changes, diffusion, atomic structure, chemical bonds and chemical reactions. Below are 4 demonstrations...

I still teaching my students the scientific method this week, and I actually figured out I think a decent way to go over variables. Variables are factors in an experiment that can be changed. Independent variables are those variables that can be changed or manipulated (some textbooks call them manipulated variables). Dependent variables are those that depend on the independent variable (or respond to the independent variable and that is why some textbooks refer to them as responding...